Exactly. I don’t claim to be a Greek expert, but I did take two years of Koine under an ***amazing*** Greek scholar. He explained that no way would the Lord have characterized a man, Peter, as a feminine, ‘petra.’ I may not be able to use my prof’s exact words in passing his teaching along, but I got and have retained the gist of it—thank God.
Perhaps your thesis as to the choice of the word "petra" is a little off-base, as well as that which you attribute to your Greek instructor?
Come now, this is not a Catholic vs non-Catholic issue, is it?
I’m not a Greek expert, either. But in seminary I helped my fiance’, in the Pastoral program, study for Greek and Hebrew, and I learned a lot by doing that. Dad, a minister, also was well educated in both languages. His sermons were deep and pithy, incorporating those languages and translations. (Sadly, most sermons now are airy-fairy and feel-good shows, and not steeped in Theology.)
The “Petros” vs. “petra” is SO clear. Elementary, really. But if someone wants to create a cult, I guess it’s easy enough to pull something out of the air and run with it.